The Canadian government is putting more than CAD 33 million toward a 32 MW Indigenous-owned solar project in the south-central province of Saskatchewan.
The Wicehtowak Solar project, to be located by the province’s capital, Regina, will be built by George Gordon First Nation via Wicehtowak Solar Ltd.
Canada’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources said the project serves as a pilot enabling the sale of electricity from private developers to customers in the province. A 30-year power purchase agreement, described as the first of its kind in Saskatchewan, will supply electricity to mining group K+S Potash Canada through the SaskPower grid.
Canadian Secretary of State (Rural Development) Buckley Belanger said that the project will “add more clean power to the grid, create long-term jobs and help keep energy costs stable for families and businesses in Saskatchewan.”
The government’s investment is part of the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program, a CAD 4.5 billion federally funded initiative launched in 2021. As of May this year, the program had supported 71 projects, 43 of them Indigenous-owned.
The Wicehtowak Solar project is the latest in a series of Indigenous-led solar projects backed by the Canadian government, including a 2.85 MW project in Yukon and a 3.8 MW array in British Columbia, the country’s largest off-grid solar project to date.
Canada installed 314 MW of solar in 2024, bringing its cumulative installed PV capacity to more than 5 GW.
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